


Midday Sun

by helloearthlings



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-06
Updated: 2017-05-06
Packaged: 2018-10-28 20:23:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10838763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helloearthlings/pseuds/helloearthlings
Summary: Merlin could see the anxiety pooled behind Arthur's eyes and the bravado keeping his shoulders straight as he stepped forward - and Merlin could also see himself really, really falling in deep here.





	Midday Sun

**Author's Note:**

> I actually wrote the first 300 words of this months and months ago and somehow got the inspiration to finish it this weekend. It's pretty straightforward - just short and sweet and stupid. Hope you like!

The bloke is gorgeous.

Gorgeous and _shy_ , nervous beyond belief, fear evident as his eyes dart around the busy room, filled with people, filled with booths, with flyers and pamphlets and sign-up sheets, and Merlin feels a pang of sympathy deep in his gut as the bloke’s hands shake as he scribbles down his name and e-mail address on the sign-up sheet at Merlin’s booth.

The volunteers here get nervous kids all the time; usually first years, out and proud for the first time, or at least somewhat out and working their way toward being proud. Their smiles are anxious, but they are _smiles_.

This bloke doesn’t smile, but Merlin knows that if he did, it’d be just as gorgeous as his face, with the mussed up blond hair and long nose and bright eyes. He doesn’t look like a first year student; it looked like it had taken him years to get to this point, to putting his name on a sheet, to putting this in writing.

Merlin’s first opinion formed is that someone that beautiful shouldn’t be so scared.

His second thought is more cynical – the bloke will probably never come to an event, or talk to anyone about this, for another how-many years.

Merlin hopes the bloke will be alright.

* * *

 

It takes Merlin a good ten minutes to recognize the blond footie enthusiast with sweat in his hair and a beaming grin as the nervous bloke, but when he does, he almost gasps.

It doesn’t seem like the same person; the man playing football with his mates in the park is yelling curses at his friend with a laughing smirk, is kicking in goals with mad fury as he crows his victory, excitement and adrenaline radiating off of his body in droves.

Merlin’s heart patters just slightly as he leans against the stands, just watching. This man is equally as beautiful as his nervous counterpart; he is bright and glaring and almost harsh, he’s so beautiful. He’s like a double-edged sword, with one side cut sharp as steel and the other unsteady and unsure of its cadence and rhythm.

Merlin makes himself look away.

* * *

 

It’s the first day of the new semester and Merlin isn’t all too pleased with having to take an economics class, even if it is about the economics of public health. He scrapes by in his mathematical requirements and had only just escaped Calculus, only to be told that he needed to take this class.

He wasn’t too upset when someone slid into the seat next to him and it ended up being the blond bloke, wearing a blue tie and a white button-down with a leather bag swung over one of his shoulders, which were set back and proud.

Merlin tried not to look at him too long, but their eyes met just as Merlin was ducking away.

Merlin smiled slightly at him, trying not to let on that he recognized him. The guy smiled back just for a flash before he looked away, pulling out his laptop.

Somehow, Merlin knew he’d regret it if he didn’t at least try to talk to the guy – he’d thought of him in passing a few times over the last few months, always with a slight pang in his chest at the idea of him – this beautiful juxtaposition of a human being.

“You an econ major?” Merlin asked the bloke lightly, trying to keep things as casual as possible. The bloke met his eye again and nodded slightly. “That’s good. I’m a biology major who is absolutely going to end up lost.”

The bloke smiled slightly. “It’s not that difficult,” he said, and his voice lilted slightly with a posh accent, just on the edge of teasing. Merlin grinned.

“I’m sure it’ll go better than my calc classes,” Merlin remarked and the bloke winced.

“Don’t talk to me about calc,” the bloke shook his head ruefully. “I’ve only just gotten out of that nightmare.”

“Same here,” Merlin said cheerfully, glad that the conversation was going somewhere. “I had Roberts last semester.”

The bloke sighed through his nose. It was actually pretty cute. “I had Longley – I hear Roberts is a much easier grader.”

“I got so many pity points,” Merlin agreed, and was about to add something about how anyone who took more than four calculus classes should be declared certifiably insane, but the professor cleared her throat from the front of the room to gain the class’s attention.

“I’m Merlin, by the way,” Merlin whispered as the class stopped shuffling their papers in order to turn to the professor.

The bloke smiled at him, and it was then Merlin noticed that his teeth were just a little crooked. “I’m Arthur.”

Merlin could see both brash arrogance of the boy on the football field and the nervous anxiety of the boy at the LGBT booth all at once and something unfurled in the center of his chest.

* * *

 

“Ugh, I wish she’d post the grades for the last quiz already, I’ve been checking at least six times a day. No exaggeration.”

Merlin laughed, shoulder to shoulder with Arthur, heading out the doorway as the lecture ended. They’d talked a bit during class for the past few weeks, and it was clear that when it came to his grades, Arthur was very much the first person Merlin had seen.

“I always forget to check my grades,” Merlin admitted. “I usually don’t know until a week after they’re posted.”

“I know within five minutes,” Arthur said with a self-deprecating snort as they exited the business building into the chilly February sun. “Speaking of five minutes, I cannot possibly spend more than five minutes outside in this weather. Fucking winter.”

Merlin laughed under his breath, having picked up within a few conversations that Arthur had grown up pretty privileged. “How dare the weather not respond to your wishes. Have you tried bribing it yet with your boatloads of cash?”

“Obviously not – I’m going to try name-dropping first,” Arthur said mock-smugly, his grin wide with laughter. Merlin really liked this Arthur, the one he wouldn’t have seen without a conversation, with his sarcasm and mockery and all of the other things that Merlin liked so much about him.

“As much as I’d like to see you yell at the sky, I _do_ have somewhere to be,” Merlin meant to wave and depart before he could give away just how much he _liked_ spending time with Arthur, even these five minutes after class, but Arthur stopped him a laugh.

“ _You_? Have somewhere to _be_?” Arthur snorted, and it was unfairly adorable. No one should look cute when they snort. “That’s vague enough to make me think that you have a girl to meet.”

If Merlin hadn’t known that first Arthur, he would have felt a slight twist in his gut, but knowing that Arthur wasn’t straight made him see the comment in a different light.  This was probably how Arthur related to the straight guys on his football team. It was deflective; it put the attention on someone else.

“Well, it’s an LGBT club thing,” Merlin said, “so most of the girls there are probably not going to be interested in me.”

“Oh,” Arthur said, his brow furrowed with all of his attention on Merlin now. “I – Sorry, I didn’t mean to – uh – mean to assume –”

“Honestly Arthur, relax,” Merlin rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “It’s no big deal.”

Arthur winced, biting his lip just slightly. “Well, I feel like a dick now.”

“Don’t,” Merlin advised him, and a nagging idea popped out of his mouth before he could stop it. “You could…come with me if you wanted.”

That was the wrong thing to say and Merlin knew it immediately. Arthur’s face turned pink and his teeth on his lip suddenly sunk down, hard, so hard it looked painful.

“I – um – do you think I’m –” Arthur started to stammer, and Merlin quickly held up a hand to stop him.

“I’m not saying you look gay or anything,” Merlin corrected hurriedly. “Not that, like, looks have anything to do with it. I was just asking.”

Arthur looked a little more relieved, but Merlin could see a sort of fearfulness in his eye. Merlin probably would’ve been offended by it, thinking Arthur felt that his heterosexuality was being threatened – but Merlin knew that Arthur wasn’t heterosexual. But Arthur didn’t know that Merlin knew. And now Merlin was feeling guilty.

“Um, confession time on my part,” Merlin began somewhat awkwardly. “I actually recognized you – from an LGBT thing. Not like an event – you just put your name on our sign-up sheet last semester – you looked really nervous then. So I thought you probably weren’t out. That was why I asked.”

“…oh,” Arthur’s brashness and paranoia all seemed to waver at once, only left with a slightly confused smile on his face. “Thanks, I think. I – uh, I recognized you, too, actually – from a party at the end of last semester? You and Gwaine Green were playing beer pong?”

“Oh, right,” Merlin said, the memory coming back to him, slightly hazy from the alcohol, but he couldn’t come up with Arthur’s face being there. That was odd – he would’ve definitely remembered him if he saw him. “I don’t remember that – but in the interest of full disclosure, I did see you playing football once last fall.”

Arthur’s smile became less shy and a little more arrogant, that perfect mix that Merlin was too quickly growing accustomed to. “Yeah? How was I?”

“I dunno, I really only stopped because –” Merlin stopped before making himself keep talking, making Arthur feel more comfortable, more likely to respond to him “ – I recognized you.”

Arthur bit his lip again, but it was cute this time. “Well – we’re pretty odd, huh?”

“D’you wanna come to the thing with me?” Merlin jerked his head in the direction of the student union, thinking that he probably could be more eloquent about it.

Arthur laughed just slightly, but his eyes were bright, and Merlin could see the anxiety pooled behind them and the bravado keeping Arthur's shoulders straight as he stepped forward and Merlin could see himself really, really falling in deep here.

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

 They walked together and Arthur complained about the weather some more and actually did yell at the sky at one point, but started blushing when a tour group stared at him, and Merlin thought he’d never seen anyone more beautiful before until Arthur’s shoulder brushed against his on the way into the building and Merlin knew he’d probably be having that thought a few times a day, as long as Arthur would possibly let him.


End file.
